I know it's big. I know it has a turret. I know it has tracks. But this is not a tank:
The caption reads:
A Syrian army tank is pictured during a battle against opposition fighters in the city of Qusayr, in Syria's central Homs province, on May 25, 2013
Is it safe to assume this is a picture from Qusayr? And that it was taken on May 25th?
This is an infantry fighting vehicle. It is different from a tank despite superficial similarities. The gun caliber is too small to really take on modern tanks. It could carry an anti-tank missile above the cannon, but the launch rail is empty. This vehicle is mainly designed to carry a squad if infantry which can shoot from ports along the side of the IFV.
I will grant that if you are a dismounted infantry, a tank or IFV are scary enough to earn the name "crunchy" from the point of view of the crews.
An IFV is different from an armored personnel carrier in function in that the latter is simply designed to protect infantry from small arms and shell fire until the infantry dismounts to fight. They often don't have a turret.
Sometimes armored vehicles with turrets are self-propelled artillery.
Any who. Pet peeve of mine.
UPDATE: Tank!
Now that is a tank.
Funny enough, the caption corrected the location in Syria.
Oh, and unless I am mistaken, the IFV is a BMP-1 while the tank is a T-72. Both Soviet designs. Probably Soviet-built, too.
UPDATE: Thanks to Stones Cry Out for the link.
